Education

If Report Cards Could Talk

By Danielle Woods — January 18, 2008 1 min read
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Should teachers be able to give failing students a grade below a certain percentage? Teacher representatives in Dallas think so, demanding that district trustees reevaluate a policy that restricts teachers from giving students any grade below 50, according to dallasnews.com.

The policy is designed to give struggling students a chance to recover from poor work. But at a time when the school system is trying to raise standards and begin awarding teacher bonuses based on student achievement, members of the teacher group Alliance-AFT say the policy is “hypocritical,” and encourages a lax attitude in students. “Teachers need to be able to give the grades kids earn,” says Aimee Bolender, the group’s president.

Advocates of the policy stressed that its purpose is to dissuade failing students from taking on defeatist attitudes and to afford them the opportunity to improve. Asks Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, “Are we interested in seeing kids fail or seeing them be successful?”

A version of this news article first appeared in the Web Watch blog.